2012 Mercedes A-Class revealed in patent filings

The slightly drab 2012 Mercedes A-Class

Car makers must hate filing for patents on new cars, because it means trusting images of their new and secret car to a third party. Basic images, admittedly, but the real-deal nonetheless.

So Mercedes must be spitting feathers today as the images they sent with their patent applications on the 2012 A-Class leak out of every open window, door and PC and straight on to the interweb.

This, you may be a little surprised to learn, is the 2012 Mercedes A-Class. Yes, that’s the one based on the stunning A-Class Concept from Paris which, Mercedes Assured us, was just a new grill and a slightly bigger glass area away from the finished article.

But we did question at the time if the concept was making promises the production car would be unable to deliver, and the A-Class Concept seems to have gone from a hugely appealing take on the F800 Concept to a boring and predictable hatch. True, the flat images don’t help, but the pizazz seems to have been lost.

Still, by the time it arrives in the flesh – and with the benefit of a decent coat of paint – it will probably look much better. And there’s always the chance that the grill, big wheels and sculpted sides – if not the sleeker glass area – will come back to life in the 350bhp A-Class AMG Mercedes are planning on producing.

We live in hope.

(10 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK